New Charger Cop Cars

[Bangswitch]

The goal of the police is to both deter crime and to punish those that commit crimes. If the entire fleet consisted of unmarked cars or ghost cars, the "it's about revenue" people would have a point. It doesn't so they don't. There is, and should be, a few cars to see how people behave when the cops aren't seen. It's the same idea as undercover work. And, again, if you have to see the police to know when it's time to do what's right, you're probably not as good of a person as you think you are.

Two things:

I’m pretty sure speeding is not a crime it’s a civil violation otherwise I would be afforded a proper defense in court.

Two I’m not sure it’s a sign of low morals to speed. Changing your behavior when there’s is an increased likelihood of being ticketed is self preservation not necessarily a conscience or subconscious admission of guilt.

There is no doubt a need for police to keep people from getting carried away on the streets, so I don’t fall into its only about money crowd, public safety plays a big role in it. But I also have seen many instances where the methods used to catch speeders were a bigger danger to the public than anything the average dick-bag driver would do.

 

[Bangswitch]

I don't do traffic and I drive a car that doesn't have a decal but it does have the interceptor badge on the back and a light on the rear deck. Just this morning I had someone decide he would attempt to influence my driving by tailgating me. Due to the volume of traffic, I could neither speed up nor move over so I'm not sure what he thought I could do different.

In a separate incident, I was at a stop sign waiting to turn left onto a well traveled road with one lane for each direction. There was a steady stream of cars that made it difficult to find the space and the damp street made me not take and chances. A guy coming up behind me hit his horn as he pulled up. Then he decided to hit his horn again while I was waiting for an opening. Assuming he wanted to have a conversation with me, I hit my back lights and got out to see how I could assist him. Before I could ask him, he said "I'm sorry, I was just being an a-hole."

My car also has a spotlight on the A pillar and I wear a uniform. So everyday I see people's driving behavior change once they recognize there is a police car in the area. If I'm in the right lane, I'll see people in my rear view mirror catching up to me at a decent rate of speed in the left lane. Then I'll lose them in my blind spot because they see the spot light and hit the brakes. I also see people trying to drive with their face in a phone. A quick tap on the horn and they drop their phone and start paying attention to the road.

So I cannot agree that all the a-holes adjust their behavior when they see a car in the area that has an interceptor counterpart because they don't adjust their driving when they are behind a car with an interceptor badge.

Well I suppose there is no shortage in idiots. Just to maintain tiny bit of faith in the average American I’m going to ASSume you observe worse driving while in your personal vehicle.

 

[charlie12]

If you want to see Troopers drive I-12 in St. Tammany Parish. I hardly ever not see at least 3 Troopers working 12 and I'm on it at least 3 days a week. And I'll be out there today too. In Troop A area I hardly ever see a Trooper on I-12 or I-10 from the split to Lafayette unless working a crash and that that's including Troop I in their areas. Oh and St. Tammany SO works 12 too a good bit.

 

[Kraut]

DISCLAIMER: The following is in relation to my experience where I have worked. I'm pretty certain that there's statutes that govern this, but I don't know them offhand:

Strange, I never got a raise or better equipment or newer car no matter how many tickets I wrote. Maybe it's because the police department can't receive funds directly from traffic fines. The police department has to get it's annual budget from the municipal government, which isn't the court. The municipality does get some portion of the fines. Out of whatever the city gets, I assure all of you "it's a revenue stream" people that city politicians don't give a tinker's damn how many tickets were written by the police department when doling out money for their annual budget. Police officers, when out patrolling and making stops, generally don't give a rat's ass about city politicians who, when it's time to give the police department money, squeeze the budgetary nickel so tight that it makes the buffalo ****. Never, ever, once in my career have I written a ticket while thinking "I can't wait to get rich off of these!" The very notion is absurd.

Maybe in the smaller 'burgs, where they have Mayor's Courts and such, and a little more back-slappin', good-ole-boy, splittin' the pot over the checkerboard in the town hall/general store/fillin' station kind of process. Like the Village of Killian, LA, where I once got a crappy cite and had to mail payment to a P.O. Box in Denham Springs! They ain't even gots their own mailbox for the police department, iff'n ya can believe dat! Some cops I later met from Killian did agree with me that the particular lieutenant that wrote me was, indeed, an *******, so I felt partially validated.

As for those Chargers: We passed one around for testing once, with the Hemi package, and that thing was wicked fast! Too fast, if you ask me, for the conditions where we work, and I've become spoiled to the space and visibility from the Tahoe, so I'll stick with that as long as I can, but I wouldn't turn down a chance to take that Charger for an occasional spin now and then.

 

[Barry J]

I had all my smart ass answers to all the smart ass statements i would get. If they said they paid my salary, I would tell them that now I know who I need to talk to to get a raise. When they said something about a quota, I would tell them that with two more tickets, we could get a popcorn machine for the squad room. Dashcams and bodycams screwed all that up.

 

[MOTOR51]

DISCLAIMER: The following is in relation to my experience where I have worked. I'm pretty certain that there's statutes that govern this, but I don't know them offhand:

Strange, I never got a raise or better equipment or newer car no matter how many tickets I wrote. Maybe it's because the police department can't receive funds directly from traffic fines. The police department has to get it's annual budget from the municipal government, which isn't the court. The municipality does get some portion of the fines. Out of whatever the city gets, I assure all of you "it's a revenue stream" people that city politicians don't give a tinker's damn how many tickets were written by the police department when doling out money for their annual budget. Police officers, when out patrolling and making stops, generally don't give a rat's ass about city politicians who, when it's time to give the police department money, squeeze the budgetary nickel so tight that it makes the buffalo ****. Never, ever, once in my career have I written a ticket while thinking "I can't wait to get rich off of these!" The very notion is absurd.

Maybe in the smaller 'burgs, where they have Mayor's Courts and such, and a little more back-slappin', good-ole-boy, splittin' the pot over the checkerboard in the town hall/general store/fillin' station kind of process. Like the Village of Killian, LA, where I once got a crappy cite and had to mail payment to a P.O. Box in Denham Springs! They ain't even gots their own mailbox for the police department, iff'n ya can believe dat! Some cops I later met from Killian did agree with me that the particular lieutenant that wrote me was, indeed, an *******, so I felt partially validated.

As for those Chargers: We passed one around for testing once, with the Hemi package, and that thing was wicked fast! Too fast, if you ask me, for the conditions where we work, and I've become spoiled to the space and visibility from the Tahoe, so I'll stick with that as long as I can, but I wouldn't turn down a chance to take that Charger for an occasional spin now and then.

I have one of the new AWD versions. It’s pretty nice


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[kcinnick]

I don't think anyone is accusing individual cops of making money off of tickets. There are lots of departments, towns and cities are ticket mills and a major revenue source for the government that they are a part of.

"The number of Louisiana towns, villages and small cities in which fines make up at least half their revenues has risen from 15 in 2007 to more than 25 in 2018, according to a review by The Advocate of annual state audits of local finances.

For 60 other municipalities, fines and forfeitures account for more than 30 percent of government revenues. That’s up from 28 in 2007.

And 194 of the state’s 304 incorporated cities, towns and villages raise more in fines and forfeitures than they do in property taxes, according to latest financial audits."

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_r...cle_baf2b54c-3b7a-11e9-be3c-cb983a12c2d6.html

I would consider almost 2/3's of the state's incorporated cities, towns and villages with fine collection rates that high to be rampant abuse of power by the government.

 

[Magdump]

It’s about revenue

 

[DAVE_M]

It’s about revenue

 

[KDerekT83]

marked or unmarked cars, Law Enforcement vehicles are the easiest of all vehicles on the road to spot. there's way to many cues that give them away, with 99% of those cues being obnoxiously obvious to anyone paying attention to their surroundings.

 

[MTregre]

I agree. There are people who lack integrity and have to know there are police around or they won't respect others.

There were 8 rapes in 2019 locally by men who pulled over women with a blue flashy light and a white charger.

 

[GunRelated]

I do not pull over for unmarked vehicles.

Ghost marking a vehicle is an unmarked vehicle in my estimation.

I'll call 911 and report the incident, while driving to the nearest police station.

If the Popo don't like that, tough. Ride in a plainly marked car.

Same here. I would like to imagine that if everyone did this, maybe there would be a reconsideration on the usefulness of using unmarked vehicles for traffic violations.

 

[Bangswitch]

I don't think anyone is accusing individual cops of making money off of tickets. There are lots of departments, towns and cities are ticket mills and a major revenue source for the government that they are a part of.

"The number of Louisiana towns, villages and small cities in which fines make up at least half their revenues has risen from 15 in 2007 to more than 25 in 2018, according to a review by The Advocate of annual state audits of local finances.

For 60 other municipalities, fines and forfeitures account for more than 30 percent of government revenues. That’s up from 28 in 2007.

And 194 of the state’s 304 incorporated cities, towns and villages raise more in fines and forfeitures than they do in property taxes, according to latest financial audits."

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_r...cle_baf2b54c-3b7a-11e9-be3c-cb983a12c2d6.html

I would consider almost 2/3's of the state's incorporated cities, towns and villages with fine collection rates that high to be rampant abuse of power by the government.

Damn 10 years ago when I was a young accountant doing my first few muni-audits I thought things were bad.

 

[MOTOR51]

Same here. I would like to imagine that if everyone did this, maybe there would be a reconsideration on the usefulness of using unmarked vehicles for traffic violations.

It’s pretty simple. If you feel uneasy then you can turn on your flashers, slow down and proceed to the nearest gas station etc. If you call the police while you are on your way to a public place they can probably confirm that it’s a real police officer and you can just pull over at that time.


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[MOTOR51]

I do not pull over for unmarked vehicles.

Ghost marking a vehicle is an unmarked vehicle in my estimation.

I'll call 911 and report the incident, while driving to the nearest police station.

If the Popo don't like that, tough. Ride in a plainly marked car.

Hopefully you acknowledge the officer by slowing down and turning on your flashers. Judging by your condescending attitude and use of derogatory slang for police officers I’m sure you are a joy to deal with. I guess the same could be said that if you don’t like getting pulled over by the “popo” in unmarked cars you could easily just abide by the traffic laws.


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[thperez1972]

There were 8 rapes in 2019 locally by men who pulled over women with a blue flashy light and a white charger.

This is precisely the type of behavior an unmarked unit would be good for. If the criminal saw a marked unit, he might be deterred for that moment. But with an unmarked unit, the officer should have a radio and might know the charger pulling someone over isn't the real police and could take action. You're right, you've shown a good reason to have unmarked units.

 

[Bangswitch]

This is precisely the type of behavior an unmarked unit would be good for. If the criminal saw a marked unit, he might be deterred for that moment. But with an unmarked unit, the officer should have a radio and might know the charger pulling someone over isn't the real police and could take action. You're right, you've shown a good reason to have unmarked units.

Wouldn’t it be more effective to let the public know to never stop for cars that don’t have proper markings and call 911, than to hope your ghost charger ends up in the same place as the dirtbag imposter when he attempts something?

 

[DAVE_M]

Wouldn’t it be more effective to let the public know to never stop for cars that don’t have proper markings and call 911, than to hope your ghost charger ends up in the same place as the dirtbag imposter when he attempts something?

You mean like the advice that nearly every Police Department and Sheriff's Office continually warn people about?

What MOTOR said is sound advice that I've heard from multiple officers from small departments up to LSP. Put your flashers on, slow down, call 911 and confirm that the car behind you with lights on is actually an officer, and drive to the nearest well lit public place where there are other people around. I've never heard of a single cop saying they would rather you pull over on the dimly lit road on a curve in the middle of nowhere. They like being able to see as much as you do.

 

[DBMJR1]

Hopefully you acknowledge the officer by slowing down and turning on your flashers. Judging by your condescending attitude and use of derogatory slang for police officers I’m sure you are a joy to deal with. I guess the same could be said that if you don’t like getting pulled over by the *popo* in unmarked cars you could easily just abide by the traffic laws.


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I don't consider 'popo' to be derogatory. You make many assumptions. A large percentage of my friends are popo.

 

[topgunz1]

A 3 word post of the most generic dodge charger in the world and you guys have jumped to every conclusion in the book, glad to see the 'ole BS is still kicking.